Yet another amoeba-caster

or paramecium, whatever :oops: My Bio 101 days are well behind me ... and you know, I haven't had to once fill anyone in on exactly what the function of the endoplasmic reticulum is. :smile:

So, I've manged to hook my leg onto the bandwagon, to take a stab at a paisley fabric finish, only with a bit of a twist. Normally the advice seems to be to glue the fabric down on wood or a base colour, but I figured I'd experiment and skip a step by saturating the fabric in sealer, to ward off the blotchy blues which often seems to happen with the glue-down method.

started with a little tele-bondage and an angle grinder...

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/bondagefirst.jpg

That left 'er a bit rough around the edges

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/bondage5th.jpg

touched it up with 50 and 220 grit

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/touchupsanding.jpg

much better now

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/bevelbacksanded.jpg

As you may know - that particular pukey-green vintage white, it started as an SX STL alder body - did a bit of route and channel filling, primed with off white. Then later I changed my mind to pure white (this is before I went to pure white). I went to white because the fabric was looking a little strange coloured behind, though later on with the sanding sealer on the fabric, I'm kind of wishing I'd stayed with the off white.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/frontchannelfilled.jpg

Saturated the fabric, a white ladies blouse, with a bit of texture, now repurposed.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/clothsaturated.jpg

plopped it on

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/clothdownlayerone.jpg

This method gives you about seven or eight minutes to futz with your pattern placement. Glue, as I understand it, is much less forgiving. Mod podge? I've experimented with it. Run Away. Way to soft IMO

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/frontclothtrimlayer2.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/clothlayer3fakegrain.jpg

Above is the fabric trimmed as well as an interesting closeup of how the fabric texture kind of gives a tight blond grain effect to the finish.

Thinking a thin metallic nickle type burst around the edge, to pick up the silvery grey in the colours. That is after the required umpteen million layers of sanding sealer. Still not really sure if I will paisley the back. I'll keep updating as I go along. Oh, and here's a bonus shot of a terrible Xav headstock about to be proper-ized. The b tuner hole is slithtly out of whack, because Jay at GF maintains it adds extra sparkly tone. :cool:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/headstocktemplate.jpg

Looking sweet tv , I like the material
:)

In the first pics it looked like you were making it a Jeff Beck Esquire.

I really dig your contours. I have been looking for some inspiration for contours that are a little different from the norm. May have to borrow....

I really dig your contours.

+1

I liked the look of the two-tone paint and wood after you contoured the body! I may have to borrow THAT! :grin:

Yeah I thought about stopping right there, well actually contouring the whole damn thing... but then, I realize i can get easily distracted... got a little further over the past day or so... seven coats of sealer on the front, with a bit of levelling after five, then I flipped it and flopped fabric on the back, have three coats down and will trim the fabric tomorrow. Few more coats after that, then I'll have to clean up the sides from all the drip-over, and figure out what to burst it with.

here's the front laying with coat seven and some cavity trimming.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/sscoat6.jpg

The more I look at this thing, the more it seems to be whispering antigua-ish to me
That's probably unique, antigua paisley - I'm thinking something along the lines of this digital mockup with much less scratch plate, and a rosewood fretboard .

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/antiguapaisley.jpg

Very nice guitar.

umpteen coats of sealer, lots of sanding, drop filling, more sanding etc... here's where we were yesterday or so..

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/headstocksealed.jpg

next time I will wait until about eight or nine coats of sealer before trimming the fabric like I did on the headstock. Worked MUCH better.

Tried sanding the sealer with a bit of paint thinner dabbed onto the body, it worked very fine for heavy duty levelling, but it got a bit scary for me so I did the front and back only, getting the big work done, then reverted to more traditional sanding. I will never use a foam brush with sealer again.

rattlecanned some nitro today... in preparation for burstitude..., there's a few issues, but she's coming a long pretty ok

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/firstclearpaisley.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/firstclearpaisleyback.jpg

if anyone is interested, I keep a much more detailed project thread over at AGF,
http://www.agileguitarforum.com/showthread.php?tid=255, where I detail all my various muck-ups and mental anguish:oops::rolleyes:

Looks great tv , the paisley fabric build I did last year I think I had close to 9 hours wet sanding in , its is tedious but worth it .

Looking great. I like the antigua burst around the edges.

Did yourself proud right there.

Really great look.

thanks!- cleared the headstock today, pics sometime. Still need to come up with a name of some sort, won't be amoeba caster....

Very cool

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/wehaveaname.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/waterslidedown.jpg

yeah, not super creative, but good enough to go. hoping to burst this weekend.

:O You're bursting this? THAT WILL BE SICK

Well.... we're gonna try. picked up some charcoal metallic, see what happens anyway. Very thin burst.

Well.... we're gonna try. picked up some charcoal metallic, see what happens anyway. Very thin burst.

Air brush burst tv ?

I've enjoyed watching this..........great job


Jeff

Nice!!! Really like it.

Sorry but that is one killer awesome tele! :)

Yes, airbrush. Actually did the "fingernail test" last night. We will have to sit back for another week before bursting I think. Don't want the nitro to shrink and wreck my burst.

not sure if it would, but rushing into things always mucks things up for me.

A little progress to report. Spent the last couple of weeks experimenting with tinting shellac (normal fabric dye). Yes, it works. Must filter out salts though.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/shellacprep.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/3colours.jpg

We have custom TVvoodoo Colours: "Post-Binge Piss Test", "Clownberry" and "Lung Disease Seepage" (the latter one really pleased me).

Then we worked on a custom pickguard design and rough-carved it from a discarded chunk of plexi I nabbed from out back my local Sears Store. I sort of borrowed a design off a guitar I saw on this forum, modded a bit it to my own liking with the bezier thingamabobbers. NEWSFLASH for the rest of the noobs like me without proper pickguard making tools or templates, if you are going to cut plexi with a jigsaw, make sure you glue it to something first, like a thin piece of MDF. Two attempts cracked on me before I got wise.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/pickguardwork.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/backer.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/roughedout.jpg

Still needs quite a lot of carving work around the neck pup. Well, everywhere else as well. :smile:

For the past ten days I dorked around with airbrushing a nicotinish shellac burst (rather difficult) then ATTEMPTED to airbrush duplicolor metallic.
The latter, I found, DOES NOT WORK. After trying it for two sessions, I finally gave up after inventing all sorts of new salty phrases, while cleaning out my airbrush repeatedly. My guess is paint thinner don't work with duplicolour auto touch up - just wont play well. Probably should have tried lacquer thinner instead? I dunno. None on hand anyway.

My plan B was to black metallic the sides straight from the can, after masking off the main body front and back. I will re-mask, maybe an inch or two in, and attempt a VERY soft and fine, maybe 3/4 - 1/2 inch burst in by eye, by holding the can just off the subject, using nerves of steel, a light touch and a steady hand - (I have already tried this on test materials, seems quite do-able. if a bit "farmer" as they say around these parts.)

Due to decanting half my paint for the airbrush trials, I ran out for the burst, so all I could get was a few coats on the sides this morning. Typical metallic spraying, light coats, different angles, spraying dry so the glittery particles stand up as much as possible. So, here we is as of today.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/backunmaskedstep1.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/edgeunmaskedcu.jpg

When we continue, after I finish the metallic bursts, I will again "lung disease effluent" shellac the sides, feathering it into the previous burst, hopefully with an aim to meld everything together, the goal is to give the black more of an antique brass-ish sort of feel.

Can't wait to see how this turns out!

Well, it's been a bursting adventure alright. Made some painfully noob-ish mistakes which I am still recovering from. I ain't too proud to hide it from y'all, maybe it will save a fellow tdpri'er some future pain and suffering.
I struggled with putting metallic duplicolour through my airbrush for two long, painful sessions. I eventually gave up, though of course that is my preferred method of bursting.

If you are going to attempt the "Free Burst," a few tips I want to offer you, others here will probably disagree, whatever - I agree I am not a pro, as are probably most of you reading this. Free advice heh, double your money back if it turns out as misdirection.

Anyhoo, I'm showing you all the puddin' here, both the good and the bad.

1. Trying a burst with no cardboard templates etc, (and smaller duplicolour cans) you need to buy at least two extra cans, cut out some cardboard similar in shape to your guitar and headstock, and do some serious practice first, same paint, same nozzle. I did that, and despite what you see below, it helped a lot. I want to note, I tried a cardboard template burst once before I purchased the airbrush, and the results??? Well, that is why I was forced to purchase an airbrush. It feels weird to be spraying 90% of your money into thin air, but that's how she goes.

2. Don't bother trying to mask off the body where you don't want the burst, or go at least an inch and a half in from where you want the burst to be completely faded out or, you will have to deal with mask lines from overspray.
YOU DO NOT WANT THIS.

3. Spray off the side, at around a 45 degree angle from just off the centre of the guitar body. I actually found moving the guitar body with my left hand on the paint stick worked a bit better than moving the bomb around, it felt like it gave me a bit more control for some reason. I did not much like the vertical line spray pattern on the duplicolour bomb, made doing the tight spots quite difficult, but in retrospect a different pattern might have been even more difficult.

Headstock, was my test subject. Of course, after the fact I realized I applied buried the logo way to near the edge... There's just not enough finesse possible in a free burst to have much control.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/headstockburst.jpg

body masked, (WRONGLY - WAY too close to edge)

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/bodymaskpreburst.jpg

burst results - Yeah, just as I feared. There's going to be mask lines.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/bodyfrontburst.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/backbodyburst.jpg

Fair Warning - The below is NOT easy to deal with. After sanding back a couple of the worst spots, I re-bursted, maybe 25% of the guitar.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/oversprayline.jpg

After some more careful wet sanding with 1200 and a bit of rubbing compound, I found I could "sort of" repair the mask lines by "softening," but verily I say this unto you: you will be much better off NOT having to go there, and if you have to, you will probably end up mightily displeased. Thusly, the truth hath been spaken.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/burstcleanup1.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/burstcleanupfront.jpg

I, (((sigh))), need to buy yet another can to re-re-burst above the neck pocket on the front, and this stuff ain't cheap. I had a mental/physical slip when I re-bursted the other repairs. Thankfully, my truck is pretty much the same metallic black, so having some on hand is probably not a bad idea.

Having the busy paisley pattern along the edge is kind of saving my bacon here, it is helping to hide imperfections. The colours above are very accurate to the real deal. After I work with it a bit more, it is my hope the coming bursted overcoats of lung disease flavoured shellac on top will help me tie things together and also serve to disguise the boo-boos even more. I think.

other than that, well it's going juuussssst fine... LOL!

Yes, you may be having the odd glitch, but, man, look at the thing. It's beautiful. Love the direction you've gone on this, very very classy indeed.

Wow, pretty high praise for pretty low skills. I've seen your work, you know.
The encouragement is appreciated.

I've been following this from the start, and it looks sick!

Hey tv , I think it's looking great , I found out about tape lines when I did my paisley build last year , I discovered it early on and didn't have too much of a problem getting the lines wet sanded off but it was an eye opener , Next time I do a burst I am going to do the same as you suggest .
Good work , she's going to be a beauty :smile:

^ now I don't feel so bad. I thought I was near the only one who had done this. I did a lot of searching for "burst repair" or "fade mask overspray lines" and a wide variety of other search term combos, and not much seemed to come up except one reranch thread. This is why I figured I might as well put something up - maybe I can redirect another poor sap who might be thinking to attempt this.

Well I have some news - I managed to re-re-burst and fix up the worst errors. If I would have had my new "secret" weapon, I'd probably be done clearing by now.

Here she is:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/1hvlptouchup.jpg

Forget airbrushes and all that crap. I'm done with 'em. Above you got your basic ten dollar chinese Stainless steel HighVolumeLowPressure "touch up" gun from ebay. What... you say? Ten Bucks? HELL YEAH. I could have totally bursted with this thing, and it made spraying the shellac toner burst over the metallic a complete cakewalk. This type of gun would be extremely useful for clearing as well. Think of it as way more better than a rattle can, about as wide a shoot set full out, but totally adjustable down, if you want it that way. Got me thinking all kinds of "bye-bye, see you later rattlecan" thoughts.

Spray radius goes from about half an inch up to about three inches, and is soooo adjustable, flow, volume, etc.... if you are just beginning to finish guitars or are wondering what the next step up is from rattlecan-land for low dollar, this is it. HIGHLY Recommend, TVvoodoo seal of approval. I can't believe it's taken me three and a half refins to get here.

Anyhoo - beautiful day here today, work was a bit ahead so I took a couple hours this afternoon to take advantage of the weather and lay down a lot of shellac, in the lung disease colour. My goal was to give the black metallic some personality sort of to match the rest of the guitar. It was flashing off nearly as fast as I was laying it down, pretty darn cool.

Here's a bunch more pics... might help explain why I'm a smiley guy tonight.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/1back.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/1front.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/1metallicmed.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/1metalliccu.jpg

Not exactly antique brass, but pretty darn interesting anyhoo - can't really describe the colour we ended up with, sort of a very,very dark, black gold, with a just hint of a slight greenish tint, not like anything I've seen before, and if you know me, that's what I like shoot towards.

nice recovery ,it's really coming along , can't wait to see it finished. I had to do something similiar by sanding down my burst edge on my paisley relic , it's not perfect .Good call on the spray gun , might be my next purchase too

Sanded the burst off the headstock, rebursted it. Got some mist coats down on the body, and a few normal coats. A bit of orange peel, manageable.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/newhedstockburst.jpg

Worked on the pickguard. Sanded the first burst off, it was terrible. Used the HVLP minigun to lay shellac, THEN metallic. (DUH!)

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/agingguard-1.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/guardbursted2.jpg

Aging some hardware... This is what vinegar fumes to bright, brand new brass

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/agedbrass.jpg

And, a muriatic fume bath before and after on the bridge.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/whatsgonnahappen.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/agedbridge.jpg

Sneak peek just for fun - the guard needs shaping for the neck pup, but I wanted to clear it from the back first so I don't end up scratching the burst when I'm mucking with it.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/guardmock1.jpg

Today I trim cut open the neck pup cover, and started aging the rest of the hardwares.
Needs a bit more, hope to finish that up tomorrow.

Hey TVvoodoo, that a beautiful guitar you do.

right on

Yes, I made that hard discovery about Duplicolor and paint thinner, too. It curdles almost immediately. Laquer thinner works with it, though.

^ I guess I should have asked. Oh well.

So my main question in my head right now is this - will it look really stupid to do a shiny gloss guitar with aged hardware? I don't know where the idea came from, or why it appeals to me, but I just want to see it. I hope I don't end up having to relic this whole job for it to look half decent - once you trash that hardware, there's no going back

Wet sanded the orange peel with 400, then I ended up spraying with the bomb from hell. most of it ran out from under the nozzle, down my arm, but I kept with it and got maybe another coat down, that was maybe five days ago. Purchased more clear, got a few more coats on today. Finish is looking deeper, and deeper, but also getting real interesting. Thought some of you fellas might like to see this, I haven't really seen nothing like it. This was relatively unplanned, but it's become sort of a colour shifter - that is, when the light hits it right, the sparkle bits in the black metallic refract (the colour is due to the tinted shellac toner coats), otherwise, from like front on it stays dark.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/1moreclearback_zps348aef46.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/1moreclearangle_zps3ff771ef.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/1moreclearsidewide_zpsa5b59aef.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/1moreclearcu_zps32fd3d80.jpg

I think I liked it at the sunburst, without the sparkles, but it looks great!

Hey Bentley, I totally get what you are saying.

Keep in mind about 90% of the time, the bronzy portions shown above are seen as much darker, or as black -I had to position pretty carefully with the full sun at the right angle to catch the metallic flashes to make them show.

It's just kind of different, and was unplanned - though other refin folks might enjoy seeing what can happen by accident or, "happy accident" if you will. I've only done one other metallic paintjob, full body gold strat, and I haven't seen this latest effect before. I'm really thinking I am glad I did the toner coats, because if it shone silver, I don't think I could live with it.

And a fine job it is :wink:

Very nice!

Looks great Voodoo. :cool:

Love it man. There is something about paisley that gets me.

Well, it's as done as she's gonna be. I still think my sanding sealer fabric dip is a great idea, only problem is, I used a brand or type which is just not hardening the way I would like. No matter how much clear you put on it, it's like building a castle on the sand. The finish while not at all sticky, is not rock hard either. Live and learn. Completely playable, sounds great to my ears. My fourth guitar refinish/rebrand, and another is already in the works.

Wanna see pics? yeah, I thought so.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/widefront_zps2af4a1f8.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/bodyangle_zpsbc696af2.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/neckpup_zpsf494406e.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/headstockupright_zps114f3efe.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/controls_zps36620b3e.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/guitarback_zpscde9075e.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/tvvoodoo/Paisley%20freak/bodyangle3_zps48dc9d09.jpg

Not perfect, but surely perfect enough for me. :wink: Wired 4-way. Sewed my own strap. Got lots of twangquility in her. I think the finish will relic more quickly as I play it, so I expect the rest of the body will better match the hardware in a few years.

Beautiful guitar! Hang it for a month and see if it hardens.

Your post also contains the makings of an excellent band name with more than a nod to NASA; Twanquility Bass! Another awesome band name brought to you by the creative minions of TDPRI. :-)

Rob

Beautiful guitar! Hang it for a month and see if it hardens.

Your post also contains the makings of an excellent band name with more than a nod to NASA; Twanquility Bass! Another awesome band name brought to you by the creative minions of TDPRI. :-)

Rob

I can't get Elmer Fudd's voice out of my head now!

It looks great! So, what brand of sanding sealer should I avoid if I attempt this method?

Edit: Ok I found it on page 1.

I can't get Elmer Fudd's voice out of my head now!

No no, that would be Twanqwiwity Bass, huh, huh, huh..... ;-)

holy crap is that pretty! i'm wrapping up a heavily modified partscaster now... everything i'd ever want in a guitar. figured i'd be set for life... then i saw this thing. ugh...

i asked on another thread, but what kinda pickup is that in the neck?

Stock rondo tele neck pup opened via dremel

Stock rondo tele neck pup opened via dremel

that's all huh? well it looks great. i love the aesthetic of the chrome rims on humbuckers and some older single coils. i never understood why nobody makes these to accommodate fender single coils... you'd think there'd be a big market in a chrome cover like that...

that fabricaster is beautiful though. i'm really wrestling an urge to build one myself... and i'm not done with my current project yet! :roll:

GFS have that type of cover on some Strat pickups:
http://www.guitarfetish.com/Brighton-Rock-Vintage-Spec-Alnico-Pickups-Classic-Queen-sound_p_1514.html

All's well that ends well, so sayeth the Bard.! And this baby ended up WELL. Nice work.

Beauty !

GFS have that type of cover on some Strat pickups:
http://www.guitarfetish.com/Brighton-Rock-Vintage-Spec-Alnico-Pickups-Classic-Queen-sound_p_1514.html

yeah... those brian may pickups. but for those of us that want a noiseless single coil or a better quality pickup than gfs, i guess we're stuck with the dremel. especially on the tele neck where people complain about the cover smothering the pickup's tone... you'd think somebody would've done that by now...

That thing is SWEET!